


if the silence takes you

by theglitterati



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Otabek Altin is a Good Boyfriend, Secret Relationship, Temporary Hearing Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23074444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theglitterati/pseuds/theglitterati
Summary: Yuri suffers temporary hearing loss at Skate Canada. Otabek helps him prepare to skate through it.
Relationships: Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 15
Kudos: 159
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	if the silence takes you

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab.

_“EEEEEEEEE!”_

The noise is deafening, a shriek of feedback from the speakers set up around the rink. The regular sound system at the Skate Canada rink is being repaired, and clearly, its temporary replacements aren’t working, because they just pierced holes in the entire crowd’s eardrums. Otabek is fifty feet away on the ice, getting ready to start his short program, but he still has to cover his ears. 

Yuri, though, Yuri’s right beside the speakers, having snuck out to watch after finishing his own short program. Otabek watches as Yuri crumples to the ground, down below the boards where Otabek can’t see him.

“Yuri!” he yells, but over the remaining feedback and the din of the annoyed crowd, the sound doesn’t travel.

He starts to skate towards the boards, but the announcer stops him in his tracks. “Sorry about that, folks. Skater Altin, please take your starting position, and we will begin shortly.”

“I—,” he says, too quiet for anyone to hear. He can’t skate without making sure Yuri’s okay. He holds up a hand to what he thinks is the announcer’s booth and yells, “Wait, please!” as loudly as he can. Then he takes off for the boards.

The fans are going to have a field day with this. The rumours that Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek Altin are dating are already flying. They’re not actually wrong; they’ve been an item for three months now. But they’ve been keeping their relationship quiet. Mostly, they just didn’t want Yuri’s Angels calling for Otabek’s head.

When Otabek reaches the boards, Yuri’s crouched on the floor, still wearing his skates, with his hands over his ears. “Yuri, are you alright?”

He doesn’t move.

“Yuri!”

Nothing. Otabek reaches down and grabs his shoulder, and he jumps, startled, like he didn’t realize anyone was there.

“Otabek? What are you—” He stops mid-sentence. His hands fly to his ears.

“What’s wrong?” Otabek asks, but all at once he finds the answer in the panicked expression on Yuri’s face. He holds Yuri’s head in both hands, making sure he can see his mouth. “Can you hear me?” he asks.

Eyes wide, Yuri shakes his head no.

Otabek’s heart races. This can’t be happening. He looks around for someone, anyone who can help. His coach is on the other side of the rink, and Yakov is nowhere in sight. Finally, he spots JJ and Isabella in the stands a few rows up. “JJ!” he yells. “Come here, now!”

Canada’s Golden Boy looks confused, but they’re in Montreal, his hometown: he’ll know what to do. 

The speakers sputter to life again, and Otabek looks up. “Skater Altin.” The announcers sound mad. “Please return to your starting position.”

“They’re calling you?” Yuri asks when Otabek looks back at him. He nods. “Then go.”

“What’s going on?” Otabek’s never been so happy to see JJ’s face. 

“Yuri can’t hear anything. He needs to go to the—”

“Skater Altin, please return to your starting position.”

Otabek feels like screaming. Can’t they see he’s busy?

“Go,” Yuri says again. “Go skate.”

“I can’t—”

“Go!” His voice breaks, and it kills Otabek that he can’t touch him.

“It’ll be fine,” JJ assures him. “I’ll take care of him.”

The speaker crackles again, and Otabek’s pretty sure they’re not going to be as nice this time. He has no choice. He skates back out to the middle of the rink and takes his starting position.

***

The Skate Canada officials are beyond apologetic once they realize what happened, but Otabek doesn’t want to hear it. He wants out of the Kiss and Cry and out of this rink as soon as possible. Once he gets his scores — they’re great, which somehow makes him feel terrible — he texts JJ to find out what hospital they’re at, then calls himself a car.

They’re with the doctor when Otabek gets there. Apparently JJ’s famous enough to have gotten them past the line, because the ER is packed. Otabek sits down to wait. They emerge twenty minutes later, JJ and Isabella and Yuri in a giant pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

“What happened?” he immediately asks JJ.

 _“Temporary_ hearing loss from standing so close to the speaker. He’s going to be fine, just needs to rest his ears a bit. He should be able to hear again in a day or two.”

“Are you okay?” he mouths to Yuri.

“Oh yeah, fucking fantastic.” At least he’s feeling well enough to be mean. It’s a good sign.

“We’re gonna get a cab back to the hotel,” JJ says. “You coming? The short program’s over. Seung Gil beat all of us, so Yuri’s in second, you’re in third, and I’m in fourth.”

Otabek pulls out his phone. “I’ll pay.” It’s the least he can do.

Yuri looks over his shoulder at the phone, then surprises him by grabbing it from his hand when he types in the name of the hotel. “No hotel!” he yells, a little too loud. “I have to go back to the rink!”

What? Otabek pulls up the Notes app to type. _We can’t. You’re hurt. You have to rest. The short’s over anyway._

“Not to watch, to practice!” Yuri answers. “How the hell am I going to do my free program tomorrow if I can’t hear the music? I need to figure it out.”

JJ snorts. “That’s on you, Otabek. We’re out.” Otabek gives him a nod before he and Isabella head for the door.

 _Yuri,_ Otabek types, _No one would blame you if you didn’t skate tomorrow. You can ask to be reassigned because of injury._

Yuri yanks the phone out of his hand. “I don’t want special treatment! Let’s go!” He calls a car from Otabek’s phone before he can stop him.

***

Yuri’s still in his skating costume, so he gets right back on the ice, ridiculous headphones and all. They aren’t actually allowed to use the sound system (Yakov had to pull a lot of strings and probably bribe someone to get them in here at all) and Otabek doesn’t really want to after seeing what it can do. Instead, he listens to Yuri’s music in his own headphones while Yuri runs the program — without jumps — over and over, and tries to match them up.

He does alright, considering. He usually finishes on time. But so much of his choreography is tied to the arrangement of the piece. Otabek finds two pieces of paper, writes TOO SLOW on one and TOO FAST on the other, and holds them up for corrections.

After three times through the program in a row, Yuri comes over for a drink. “This fucking sucks,” he declares.

Otabek pulls out his phone. _You’re doing very well._

“Not well enough. I’m not going to let Seung Gil and his stupid quad loop take gold away from us.”

 _He won’t_ , Otabek types. Yuri just nods and skates away to try again.

On his fifteenth try, Yuri skates a perfectly-timed program without any help from Otabek, and they finally head back to the hotel. Otabek’s exhausted, and all he did was stand at the boards and hold up signs, so he can’t imagine how Yuri feels.

“Come back to my room with me,” Yuri mutters when they walk into the lobby.

Otabek side-eyes a group of suspiciously-young girls hanging out in the corner. “I think your Angels might notice," he mouths.

“We can say you were helping with my ears,” Yuri says wearily. “Just come.”

They collapse into each other's arms the second the door closes. “Thank you,” Yuri breathes into Otabek’s chest.

He tips Yuri’s head up so he can see him frowning. “For coming to help me,” Yuri clarifies. “No one else even noticed that anything was wrong, but you did, right away.”

Otabek types: _I always notice you._

“So mushy,” Yuri says, but he can’t hide his blush. “I guess I probably should have said thank you to JJ, too, but that would have just been embarrassing.” He pulls away from Otabek and takes a small bag out of his pocket, the little paper kind that makes Otabek think of sickness and injury. “Don’t say anything for a sec, ‘kay?” Otabek is silent while Yuri slips the headphones off and replaces them with a pair of foam earplugs. “There. Kind of annoying, but more comfortable.”

Otabek plants a kiss on his forehead, then types: _I should go now. You need to sleep._

“Maybe you shouldn’t go,” Yuri says. “I’m very hurt, you know. Maybe I need a caretaker.” He smirks at Otabek.

He sighs. “Fine.” Honestly, it doesn’t take much convincing.

***

It’s odd watching Yuri cheer for him after his free program the next day, knowing he can’t hear anything he’s saying, but it makes Otabek happy all the same. He leaves the ice, grabbing his phone to type a quick message to Yuri before he has to skate. _Davai. Love you._

“You too,” Yuri whispers. They don’t touch.

Otabek barely hears his score before he jumps off the bench and goes to the boards to watch Yuri. The one part he never got the night before was the start of the program. Yuri did well once he got going, but how was he supposed to know when the music started? They decided instead to rotate his program 180 degrees on the ice, so he would start facing Otabek instead of the judges. He watches Otabek now, and when the music starts, Otabek gives him the signal: a thumbs-up. And Yuri starts to skate.

He does well through his first jumps and spin, but goes into his step sequence a hair too early. Otabek wishes he had a turntable so he could slow the music down, just enough to get Yuri back on track. Instead, he holds both palms up in a surrender gesture, and hopes that Yuri will understand. Yuri catches his eye in the middle of a spread eagle and holds it longer than normal. When he exits, he’s back on time, where he remains for the rest of the program. Otabek gives him another thumbs-up when he finishes, perfectly on time. Yuri never fails to amaze him.

He comes flying off the ice. He should go to Yakov, and the Kiss and Cry, but instead he heads straight for Otabek.

Otabek has his phone ready: _You were amazing._

“Thanks to you,” Yuri says, and then he kisses Otabek, in front of the whole crowd.

Otabek’s eyebrows shoot up — they were keeping this thing quiet, and with the noise the crowd is making now, this is the complete opposite of that. But it’s hard to care with Yuri’s mouth on his. What the hell, right? He lifts Yuri off the ground, letting him wrap his legs around his waist, and kisses him harder.

“Hey,” Yuri says suddenly. “I can hear those assholes clapping!”

“Really?” Otabek mouths.

“Not totally, but a little bit!”

Otabek breaks into a grin, and kisses him again. He imagines that both of them will be hearing about this kiss for a long time, so he might as well make it a good one.


End file.
